University of Chicago (UChicago) (2023-2024)

[rugged field]

all ik is thay my IB predicted was 44/45

[gloomy ferry]

what kinda ecs did you have? and which prompt did you choose for the quirky essay lol

[rugged field]

ok im sry i prefer not disclosing such

[sour lotus]

IB gang 💪💪💪

[torn path]

are perhaps from a uwc?

[rugged field]

nope

[vagrant knot]

ik that uchicago pretty much admits its class in ed

but how split is it btween ed 1 and ed2

[plush zinc]

tbh im not sure how accurate this is but when i was at a uchicago information session the admission officer said that for ed1, ed2, ea, and rd they get 25% of their class from each round

tho i feel like there's probably a greater percentage of ed students than that

[gloomy ferry]

is there a suggested word count for the quirky essay bcuz mine is 1058 but im v proud of it

[torn path]

as long as it's within a page or two, it'll be fine

[gloomy ferry]

It's 4 🤪🤪🤪🤪

small fonts ftw

[gloomy ferry]

bruh how do you choose which prompt to write all of them are so slay and idea-inducing

[regal stirrup]

Rip your admissions officer

[gloomy ferry]

Listen it's very easy to read ok

Like it doesn't feel like a thousand words

Plus I'm hiding a scavenger hunt in my essay so

[regal stirrup]

She’s HER✨

[rugged field]

cut it

650 words

thats what they suggested

[gloomy ferry]

:(

but it's so cute

[rugged field]

rip

gotta cut it down th

[gloomy ferry]

it just says one/two page tho?

my why uchicago is less than 650 tho

[rugged field]

💀

how long is it

they have a point tbh

like the AO can just stop reading if theyre lazy

[vagrant knot]

how tf are u even suppossed to answer the uchicago prompts

in 650 words 💀

[jaunty girder]

in addition to the quality of the language, expressing an idea concisely is another valuable skill

good writing 👍
good writing concise 👍👍

[vagrant knot]

so just go ham with your ideas for that topic

but do it in a concise way

[rugged field]

yeah

just cut down words after ur done writing everything

[vagrant knot]

but 650 words 💀

basically a commonapp essay

[rugged field]

cut out the parts that arent like the most eye catchy

yeah...

[vagrant knot]

thats is uh

difficult

[rugged field]

i get it

its hard

but it has to be done

maybe 700 is fine?

[vagrant knot]

indeed

[rugged field]

the reason i got in is most porbably my essay

[vagrant knot]

im gonna need some really good ideas bruh if i need to get to 650 words

[rugged field]

ur gonna need a top notch 👌 idea

[vagrant knot]

help 💀

[rugged field]

unless ur confident ur other factors r gonna get u in

[vagrant knot]

lmao no

[jaunty girder]

imagine that thoroughly reading one of these essays goes at 100wpm. That would mean that a short one (300 words) would be 3 minutes and a long one (1000 words) would be 10 minutes. Say they plan to spend 20 minutes on your application, would you want half of that just to be reading your essay or to be spent on other parts as well?

[vagrant knot]

i mean dont they speed thru the rest fairly quickly no matter what?

i dont even know if the rest of my app is mid at best

[jaunty girder]

it's a holistic application, they consider everything

ECs, Recommendations, Other essays, there's a lot that can have time spent on it

[vagrant knot]

i have 4 ecs 💀

cant really rank my recs cuz i cant see them ofc

[vagrant knot]

well 3 of them i have been doing them for at least my entire hs career

[jaunty girder]

you can definitely find more than 4, what ECs do you currently have down?

[vagrant knot]

cooking for my fam every weekday, violin, hacking, volunteering

first 3 are the long term ones

[jaunty girder]

how about sports? clubs? competitions of any sort?

[vagrant knot]

cant do clubs and sports bc of the cooking

[jaunty girder]

do you have younger siblings?

[vagrant knot]

i have to get home and commute is 1 hr

i am the younger sibiling

i never really paid attention to competitions

to my detriment

[jaunty girder]

even ones during the school day?

what do you do in your free time?

[vagrant knot]

hw, hacking, violin

if i can relaxing is nice, fam life is a bit stressful

[jaunty girder]

with hacking do you have any sort of leadership role or any hackathons or events?

[vagrant knot]

no its just doing ctfs and hackthebox

[jaunty girder]

other than cooking do you take care of your family?

[vagrant knot]

im not a part of a team or anything

[vagrant knot]

occasionally help my grandparents

[jaunty girder]

CTFs you can list under awards if you placed and can even have as a separate EC to provide more info

[vagrant knot]

placing is hella hard

not sure how to put ctfs as a seperate thing

so yeah maybe letting the aos look at my ecs isnt a good thing 💀

[jaunty girder]

like one ec:
Technology & Cybersecurity
Research into various methods of vulnerabilities and understanding the methods by which information is encrypted, sent, and received and on the other bed how it is cracked, intercepted and used maliciously

Capture the Flags (CTFs)
Through learning about hacking I discovered CTFs which are competitions which not only teach me more about the methods of hacking and such but allow me to test my skills, from z competition to a competition, ive completed and assisted others with these CTFs

[vagrant knot]

mmm will aos see that as trying to fill up spots

cuz theyre so similar

[idle flint]

hey yall has anyone visited uchicago and thought it looked nice

[frigid flare]

it did look pretty nice but the tour kinda sucked

like idk if it was the campus or just the tour but it felt small and like there wasn't much to do

which is weird cause every other college i've seen has been big

so i think the tour might have been terrible

it did look nice though

not sure there's much to do in hyde park but chicago's right there and there's everything to do in chicago

[rich sapphire]

we do have a rlly small campus compared to other schools
as for stuff to do, it depends on what ur looking to do

[untold hill]

i loved the campus but did not like the surrounding neighborhood

plus downtown chicago is pretty far and isnt usually somewhere you would be able to go every day

tour was also very short and small for me too

they didnt even take me inside any buildings

[gloomy ferry]

636 🤩

[rugged field]

rip

keep it at 500

[verbal kayak]

how long should the second essay be

[rugged field]

650

[verbal kayak]

damn

me with almost 900

[torn path]

i have like 900 words for my why uchicago essay and around 600 words for my uncommon essay 😐

[verbal kayak]

opposites 🤝

[gloomy ferry]

im aiming for 800 for the quirky and 500 for the why uchicago

[verbal kayak]

isnt that bad

uchicago website says they recommend 650 for quirky

[gloomy ferry]

It's still 2 pages it's ok

[verbal kayak]

dont u want to follow the guidelines

its already so vague

[gloomy ferry]

but i love my essay :(

[verbal kayak]

me too 😦

[gloomy ferry]

Bruh mine is so basic

im now second guessing everything

https://blog.prepscholar.com/why-uchicago-essay-examples-tips
is it just me or do these why uchicago essays lowkey suck

[gloomy ferry]

Due to a series of clerical errors, there is exactly one typo (an extra letter, a removed letter, or an altered letter) in the name of every department at the University of Chicago. Oops! Describe your new intended major. Why are you interested in it and what courses or areas of focus within it might you want to explore? Potential options include Commuter Science, Bromance Languages and Literatures, Pundamentals: Issues and Texts, Ant History... a full list of unmodified majors ready for your editor’s eye is available here.

This doesn't have to be my intended major right?

[gloomy ferry]

tried editing it and ended up at 768!! 🫶

[rugged field]

bruh u talk like its an advertisement 💀💀

[untold lark]

nope it can be whatever class you want

[frigid flare]

you don't have to choose your intended major but whatever you change it to should probably have something to do with your major

[rugged field]

what

no

in fact i recommend u dont

if u try to relate it to ur major it then ur creativity is restricted

the best essays of that prompt which ive seen are all like unrelated to their major

some are barely even related to any major

[rugged field]

so yeah to answer ur question no it does not

[frigid flare]

ah ok i was just thinking cause it says "what might you want to explore"
i think the why major essays have poisoned my brain

[rugged field]

lmao alr

but yeah the main point of uchicago's quirky essays tbh is for u to stand out and not submit a 'standard' essay

[gloomy ferry]

What im changing it to is related to my interests but not my major so i think im good

[rugged field]

whether its related to ur major/interest/whatever j doesnt matter

[gloomy ferry]

i mean they do want to learn more about your personality and background so if you can talk more about yourself its better right?

[verbal kayak]

if tahts the case im so dead

i barely talked abt myself

[rugged field]

i mean yeah thats the point

but if ur saying "academic background" i think ur highschool record + why uchicago + ecs/awards r enough

the objective here is to stand out

its THE essay to stand out

[verbal kayak]

if im doing the second topic and one of lyrics have curse words

thats ok right

[rugged field]

hmmmm

probably

idrk

ngl idk

if ur insistent ig the least u can do is censor

like sh*t or smth

[verbal kayak]

alright

[vagrant knot]

what are the differences in acceptance rate between ea and ed? ive heard that u must do ed if u want to even have a chance

[rugged field]

they are different

the numbers are different from each other

[jaunty girder]

just pretend you're reading your essay out loud to the AO

[pure tiger]

i wrote mine on the song prompt! just comes down to your strengths and what u prefer ig. i love music so it was easy for me to write

[pure tiger]

thats rlly weird for the prompt i used i basically only talked about my background

[jaunty girder]

try to write an essay that "talks about yourself" the same way that talking about something you're passionate about would give someone insight into you.

[pure tiger]

at least for this prompt i genuenly dk what to talk abt
“Where have all the flowers gone?” – Pete Seeger. Pick a question from a song title or lyric and give it your best answer.
– Inspired by Ryan Murphy, AB’21

like i have a song's question

but i basically answered it by talking abt how my background/life experiences related and then answered the question

[jaunty girder]

Then that totally works

[vagrant knot]

for these quirky questions, do you have to somehow tie it back to you?

or do you just write the best you can

for some of these prompts, i have no clue how you would actually tie it back to yourself, such as background

[frigid flare]

nah you don't have to

[vagrant knot]

is it recommended?

[jaunty girder]

everything they recommend is in the prompt, others might recommend having it be personally somehow, but imo just make sure it offers insight into you somehow

[pure tiger]

thanks silly :))))))

[vast sand]

low key sounding insane in my extended essay

[molten crypt]

you have to be insane

slightly to get in at least lol

[gloomy ferry]

what if i made my essay 666 words

the devil incarnate is the only one who can get me into uchicago 🙏

[winter solstice]

Yo guys

Should I apply to uchicago if I need fin aid? (Can take only 5k dollars max)

[jaunty girder]

uchicago has great aid and they're need blind so definitely

[molten crypt]

yes^ lots of people on aid here

and lots with a lot of money haha

[frigid flare]

is it a bad idea if i'm doing the portmanteau one and my explanation for why it works is really stupid on purpose but it's clear that it's on purpose

[gloomy ferry]

They want quirky so

Also is it a disadvantage to choose a past prompt

[rugged field]

no

ik a lot of ppl who did that

myself included

[jaunty girder]

same, some of those were the best essays I heard

[alpine fable]

Is there still time to start writing and apply ED, I haven’t wrote anything for either essay yet

[vale sluice]

if you can get it done before nov 1st then sure

if not start now and submit it for ed2

[verbal kayak]

how do you format the essays when submitting

[gloomy ferry]

1208 word count lmao im definitely not getting into uchicago am i

[rugged field]

yeah 💀

ur not getting in with 1200

AOs r probably lazy

[molten adder]

why not cut down length

[gloomy ferry]

im trying but its so hard

i feel like everything is important yk it contributes to the story

i cut down to 1080 last night but beyond that im stuck

[molten adder]

cant write any more concise?

[gloomy ferry]

im trying bestie 😭

my introduction is 550 words, the direct answer to the prompt is 310, and conclusion is 222

[molten adder]

cut the intro??!

[gloomy ferry]

might try to make the intro 300

[molten adder]

yeah

[gloomy ferry]

but i think everything else is good

[molten adder]

for extended essay or why uchi

[gloomy ferry]

extended

why uchi is like 600 ish

ill make it 500

my ideal would be extended 800 why uchi 500

[molten adder]

yeah that sounds good tbh

my extended is 760

and why is 720

[gloomy ferry]

damn nice

might have to cut down the why tho cuz they recommend 400-500

[molten adder]

correlation not causation tho

[gloomy ferry]

really damn

maybe cuz the longer it means they have more to write on the topic whereas if its shorter they're juts writing filler stuff idk

[molten adder]

yeah probs

[gloomy ferry]

damnnnnnnnn slay

[molten adder]

spent hella time on it

[gloomy ferry]

do you know whats the longest essay thats been admitted

[molten adder]

but i have no clue how good my extended essay is

[molten adder]

no clue

[gloomy ferry]

which prompt?

[molten adder]

wbu?

[gloomy ferry]

ok but which prompt?

[gloomy ferry]

im choosing a past prompt wait

[molten adder]

wdym

[gloomy ferry]

Due to a series of clerical errors, there is exactly one typo (an extra letter, a removed letter, or an altered letter) in the name of every department at the University of Chicago. Oops! Describe your new intended major. Why are you interested in it and what courses or areas of focus within it might you want to explore? Potential options include Commuter Science, Bromance Languages and Literatures, Pundamentals: Issues and Texts, Ant History… a full list of unmodified majors ready for your editor’s eye is available here: https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/academics/majors-minors .

[molten adder]

this is the entire prompt lmao

[molten adder]

oooh this one is fun

what did you come up with

[gloomy ferry]

oh 💀

[gloomy ferry]

kinda gatekeeping cuz im proud of my idea lol

[molten adder]

gotchu

are you EDing?

[gloomy ferry]

nah

dont have money lol

ea

you?

also whats psu

[molten adder]

penn state

im EDing uchi

[molten adder]

you can get out of contract if they dont meet ur financial needs

no reason not to unless its not ur top choice

[gloomy ferry]

ahh good luck!

[gloomy ferry]

no its not only that there are other reasons too so yeah im not eding anywhere

[jaunty girder]

a classmate of mine's essay was like 20 pages and like ~1000 words, and another classmate's was like 4000 words, but for each of them, given the context, it made sense

[gloomy ferry]

????? do they even allow that?????

[jaunty girder]

you're given the prompt, write something that you're proud of

[rugged field]

ye

theyre exceptions tho imo

[jaunty girder]

ofc, what im trying to say is that you have a massive amount of freedom, keep in mind that it's another human reading your paper in the context of college admissions, but don't restrict yourself

[rugged field]

ye

tbf these essays are meant to be limitless

im sure there are like genuinely good 250 word essays which got people in

also speaking of which

this year's prompts are really cool

last year imo is somewhat bland

thats why i did a past prompt lmfao

[thin mesa]

Is anyone else doing the lyric's question promt too?

[jaunty girder]

my essay was less than 400 words, I know multiple people with very long essays, I can almost guarantee that the range for admitted essays is at least something like 100 words to 2000 words

[rugged field]

for sure yeha

but ye just for current ppl who r writing

cut it down if u can

[worthy mesa]

They tell you for the free-response essay to include the prompt at the top of the page, but I'm not sure if I should do the same for the why us essay. Should I?

[frigid flare]

i don't think you have to

can i do fafsa verification before i submit fafsa

[frigid flare]

finally finished my quirky essay, aos gonna institutionalize me when they read it 💪

[jaunty girder]

if you're uploading anything as a pdf i'd recommend having your name and prompt at the top!

[noble field]

your name...?

[random lintel]

im panicking bc i dont think my essays are quirky enough help me

[upper tendon]

my essays are 900 words and 1500 words im dead

[upper tendon]

idk what to say 😭

[gloomy ferry]

make it more quirky??

[gloomy ferry]

thats fine i think

900 words on why you wanna go to uchicago? damn you must love this school

[rugged field]

ok thats bad ngl

1500 if u can strongly justify then its fine

900 though idt is justified

[upper tendon]

Man

Will they like hold it against me

Tried to lengthen it cause I wanted it to be like a long conversation

I basically asked myself what I would say if a UChicago AO asked me why I wanted to attend and wrote that down

[rugged field]

idrk dude i think so

like the standard length is 250-500

unless ur confident that the AO will be hooked onto ur essay enough to be willing to read the extra 400

and 900 + 1500... idt the AOs have time

[upper tendon]

Aaaa

[rugged field]

just keep in mind like

the AO can reject u if they want to

so make ur essay more appealing to them

[upper tendon]

So um I submitted my application already 🙃

[rugged field]

...

erm

praying for u.

[upper tendon]

That emoji was a mistake

[rugged field]

yeah all g

[upper tendon]

I'm not wearing my glasses okay

I'm scared

[rugged field]

bruh why does everyone in this thread have lengthy ass essays

[upper tendon]

I talked about a lot of stuff tho

1. Academics (CS haha)
2. Core curriculum+ German double major
3. Clubs and stuff
4. The student body
5. Other things (location and Hogwarts + a note to the AO saying I know she doesn't like it when people call UChicago Hogwarts) were maybe 50 ish words

[rugged field]

im ngl

[upper tendon]

I know the last part cause she said it in a hs visit I'm not a stalker

[rugged field]

the first 4 can be written well in less than 500 for sure

[upper tendon]

Yeah I know 😭 but I thought that they wanted the essays to be chill so I wrote it like it was a conversation

[rugged field]

eh alr

[upper tendon]

They won't auto reject me or smth right

[rugged field]

its sorta uchicago's fault that they didnt specify the word count directly on the essay

ermmm

i dont think so?

[upper tendon]

Aaaahhhh

[rugged field]

but yeah just keep in mind

AOs can reject u with no mercy.

[upper tendon]

I really wanna go there i fcking EDed there 😭

[rugged field]

well best of luck

did u not see their recommended word count?

[upper tendon]

Where was it

[rugged field]

ill take that as a no

its in their FAQs

[upper tendon]

What

Nooo

How many ED applications do they really get though

[rugged field]

no idea

a lot

[upper tendon]

I hope they'll have enough time to read my essays

[rugged field]

tbh time isnt the concern imo

its their interest

[upper tendon]

I've made sure that they aren't bored

[rugged field]

just keep on hoping

we never know

alr good to know

[upper tendon]

Yeah

I'm gonna try to sleep now

[rugged field]

gl!

[frigid flare]

i'm struggling so hard on this why uchicago

[random lintel]

same like mine sounds so basic

[torn path]

is it ideal to send my resume to uchicago? because on the application portal they dont include resume on the dropbox, you can only send it as "other"

[rugged field]

never heard sm1 do that

but sure(?)

[jaunty girder]

What on your resume have you not included on the rest of your app?

maybe to fit it in elsewere

[vast sand]

i read the one online that was supposed to be from a spider's perspective at uchicago and it seemed like the kind of quirky shit that they like but i couldn't help but cringe a little bit 💀

[gloomy ferry]

i know the extended essay is supposed to be real creative etc etc but what about the why uchicago?

do they want that also to be super creative or can that be written like a normal why us essay?

[surreal palm]

where in the UChicago portal can I view an application checklist so I can make sure my transcripts/scores are in?

[rugged field]

ok

[rugged field]

normal

just write a standard essay tbh

those essays cant rlly be creative and they dont expect it to be

[gloomy ferry]

cool ok

submitted 🥳

[frigid flare]

300 words for why uchi ain't too bad right

oh wait

bruh i thought it was 200-250 💀

[rugged field]

thats good

[thin mesa]

Mine was 900

[noble field]

lol

[random lintel]

you report test scores on portal right?

is there a later deadline for that

[frigid flare]

yeah there's a grace period idk how long maybe like a week or so

[jaunty girder]

you self report them on commonapp and then you have a decent while for them to get in from college board if that's what you're using

[gaunt sinew]

What did prompt did you guys choose for the options essay? Just curious

[rugged field]

a past prompt

[rich sapphire]

palindrome

[torn path]

does this also include the financial aid form?

[jaunty girder]

(as of last cycle) at uchicago you can submit financial aid whenever you want, there's no actual deadlines and i know people who submitted it after getting their first quarter bill and got returned

*refunds

[random lintel]

But when I submitted commonapp it said testing wasn’t included even though I said I wanted scores considered

[gloomy ferry]

Clerical error (past)

[gaunt sinew]

Interesting! That's creative.

[gaunt sinew]

Ooh? I thought about it but couldn't think of anything for my major

[gloomy ferry]

it was literally the first essay i wrote cuz it flowed so easily lol😭

also it doesn't have to relate to your major

I didn't write about my major

[valid fable]

the tree email one

[gaunt sinew]

Oh.. welp

[gaunt sinew]

Same actually! Can I ask what you wrote to?

[valid fable]

ohh cool!! I wrote it to my hair clip hahaha

wbu?

[gaunt sinew]

wow that's also really creative.. I just wrote a letter to my chessboard haha

[valid fable]

that’s nice!! tbh I can’t play chess at all so props to you

[gaunt sinew]

Actually it's one of my main ECs so it was kind of obvious

But thanks!

[gloomy ferry]

thats such a cool prompt omg i wish i'd seen it

[valid fable]

ikrrr I had so much fun writing it

[gloomy ferry]

do you wanna swap essays? (assuming you submitted ea)

[west imp]

they recommend 250-500 lol

[random lintel]

bro that’s what i can’t figure out rn

it didn’t let me self report in common app so like

[random lintel]

wait did you do it on common app or like officially send it

[wind viper]

i officially sent it

it doesnt show up in my docs

[surreal palm]

^^^

i cant even see what docs they have already

like recommendations

[wind viper]

that's the thing

[molten crypt]

just self report it! they wont ask for the official college board SAT score report until you've gotten in

[surreal palm]

what about recommendations?

[bold cairn]

If anyone has q's about the app process/school I'm happy to help. Just tag me and/or send dm. If I'm slow to respond I promise I'm not ignoring (I'm just slammed)

^^ current 3rd year for reference. I'm old

[molten crypt]

they’re usually submitted with ur app through common app no?

[surreal palm]

ya but how would i make sure they have it on file?

[molten crypt]

send email

but don’t worry as they usually don’t fuck it up

i wouldn’t send an email unless you have a strong indicator that your thing didn’t get submitted properly

[vast sand]

why is uchicago's mail so good

[vale sluice]

well-funded marketing department

[noble field]

Fr

[vast sand]

like if I had never heard of uchicago, their mail would have made me look them up causing me to apply

[gloomy ferry]

me with Swarthmore tbh

[finite lynx]

Chicago

[rugged field]

chicago

[worthy mesa]

chicago

[jaunty girder]

chicago

[rich sapphire]

chicago

[frigid flare]

chicago

[proud lynx]

totally forgot to submit my sat score until tdy for EA. is that too late?

[frigid flare]

you mean self report?

i don't think it's too late

also you may want to update your class role

[random lintel]

I think it’s fine bc like all the optional supplemental stuff is due tomorrow, they probably don’t start looking at applications until Monday

[proud lynx]

oh haha right thanks for reminding me

[random lintel]

Also I self reported my sat but when I press display the score doesn’t show, just the date, is anyone else getting that?

[rugged field]

probably not

bing chilling

[wind viper]

same here

[random lintel]

yeah 😭

[finite lynx]

Chicago

[noble field]

UC hicago

[sour lotus]

Uh guys

Idk if I goofed

but on the application portal it shows my legale name as my full legal name then Male afterwards ☠️

[regal ingot]

im winning

please

i need this so bad

[vast sand]

my video portfolio is so goofy guys

i'm such a little quirkster

[surreal palm]

mine is all over the place

but im happy w it

[vast sand]

is yours edited or anything

mine is all in one take

no editing

[surreal palm]

mines a bit edited bc i inserted a few clips

[gloomy ferry]

idk if my video is too funny

[random lintel]

my video was so cute like I think I cooked

still probably getting rejected though 😭

[hollow ibex]

me too lowk

like my friends told me it was great but i know my ass is getting hit with that rejection

(jk universe i swear i didn’t put that energy out there pls let me get accepted)

[gloomy ferry]

what kinda videos yall making

[noble field]

Idk if I even should do a video 😭

[jaunty girder]

me with my essay, make something silly that embodies yourself and you'll do great :)

[rugged field]

most people think this way

so did i

and yet im here rn

bing chilling in chicago

[surreal palm]

hows da social scene

[rugged field]

decent

[jaunty girder]

same

[rugged field]

not the best out of all unis but like if u want a social life u can get one

if u want an easy course load u can get an easy course load too

[surreal palm]

work hard play hard 💪

[rugged field]

yeah id say thats what its like here

[surreal palm]

perf

thats what im lookin for

[rugged field]

gl

[surreal palm]

tyty

how longs the bus ride to downtown

[random lintel]

omg that’s like actually the dream

what decision round did you apply?

[rugged field]

ED2

[noble field]

probably won’t submit a video after looking up UChicago video portfolios on YouTube 😭

[noble field]

nvm found an idea

[frigid flare]

would anyone say it's particularly inadvisable for my video profile to just be me talking

[rain vector]

does any recognize this script im guessing this person was just joking (they do that)

[gloomy ferry]

is that a likely letter?

[rain vector]

no clue

[noble field]

i got that too

thats not an acceptance letter

[gloomy ferry]

what is it

[noble field]

It’s just something like thank you for supporting your child in this college admission journey and stuff

My parents didn’t even help

They sent it to all people who applied I think

[gloomy ferry]

i didnt get it :3

[frigid flare]

if i do this should i keep it short

if i do a music video

i can clip it and such

[rugged field]

sure

i didnt do it but many accepted ppl did

[frigid flare]

i might just upload a bunch of stuff and if they don't watch all of it i don't really care cause no matter what it'll get the idea across

[regal ingot]

uchicago

i need u

plz

🙏

[noble field]

lowkey ate the video profile

[proper fulcrum]

just turned in my video profile mine is so cringe 😭

[surreal palm]

filling out the financial aid thing was more painful than the vid

[proper fulcrum]

doenst fafsa come out in dec?

i got an email about finaid but they just said to wait till dec

is the css due earlier or smthing?

[proper fulcrum]

hi, i just wanna check, for earlies, is the financial aid worksheet due the 15th?

[rugged field]

cya all in chicago

[surreal palm]

dunno i just saw it in my checklist

[gloomy ferry]

Where is this???

[frigid flare]

the screenshot is from https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/apply and you can submit materials on the same place you submit the video profile

[gloomy ferry]

Ohh thank you

[finite lynx]

Chicago

[vast sand]

mine is just me talking lmao, obviously i haven't gotten in but at least you wont be the only one without a crazy edited video

[frigid flare]

huzzah best of luck

[native nova]

hey i saw someone got a likely here already??

how?

[drowsy spoke]

Probably sports or just got theirs really early

[native nova]

thats strange? I didn't know u could get likelies this early

sounds so nice

[drowsy spoke]

I didn’t either (except sports)

[native nova]

yeah ofc

[drowsy spoke]

sports ppl tend to send in stuff earlier so it’s possible for them to get theirs earlier

[native nova]

imagine having a good school locked down already

yeah tbh

yeah you would think that they would have just started evaluating apps

weird

[drowsy spoke]

Who was it that got it already

[native nova]

yeah if i knew ab that advantage trust i would've applied by now

btw is uchicago rd acceptance rate 1 percent?

[drowsy spoke]

hm

[native nova]

i heard that they rarely accept people, got me nervous cause i wanted to apply ea but couldn't

[drowsy spoke]

Since they have ed2 as well

and ea

[native nova]

yikes

[drowsy spoke]

I wouldn’t be surprised if it is

Definitely isn’t

Maybe 20% of all admitted but that sounds a bit low

Like ED making up 20% of everyone that gets in

but I would expect it to be closer to 30/40%

Ohh yeah

I mean it’s possible

unc has like 45% acceptance rate instate and 18% oos

I think that 26-30 might be split between ED 1 and 2

Idk I think it’s possible

like half and half maybe

[hollow ibex]

i hope the ed rate is that high because it would be good for me 🫶🫶

[drowsy spoke]

I’m ed2 if the coach there is willing to take me

For my sport

[wind viper]

what sport?

[drowsy spoke]

track

[wind viper]

oh neat

where are you early'ing?

[drowsy spoke]

I’m faster than or around same speed as half the team

but they want me to be faster to go there

[wind viper]

Oh nice

[wind viper]

have you talked to the coach alr?

[gloomy ferry]

try 40% in state and 8% oos lmao

[drowsy spoke]

just ea

[drowsy spoke]

Yeah I have

[wind viper]

to chicago?

[drowsy spoke]

Not Chicago

I’m only ea to other schools for now

If I get some good times I could ed to these schools (after talking to coaches)

I don’t think I’d even apply without my sport cause my ecs aren’t quite there but my gpa/sat are good enough

[wind viper]

i mean you could do walk-on if you got in right

[drowsy spoke]

I hope so

I did mention this stuff but gotta see how it works out

[drowsy spoke]

The issue with this is actually getting in cause alot of the coaches are more than ok with me to walk on

[wind viper]

Yeah fs 100%

its so much easier to get on a team once you're in

but its still really good ec to be good at a sport like that for d3s

[drowsy spoke]

From what I’ve seen if you’re recruited they shift emphasis onto grades/test scores which mine are good enough

[drowsy spoke]

Yeah I’m just hoping to actually qualify for nationals this year

competitive state I live in for my sport

[noble field]

I submitted my app with test optional but in the uchicago checklist it says recieved SAT score bc I sent it to them last year since it was free but I didn’t know i would get a super bad score

Will they still check the score

[rugged field]

💀

uh oh

idk tbh does any1 else know

ive never heard of this situation either

[undone plover]

Can’t you check in the commonapp preview thing

[wind viper]

can you show a ss of your checklist?

i submitted my test scoers a month ago but they don't show

[regal ingot]

😭

[noble field]

yeah in the commmon app it says i chose not to submit my sat score

[noble field]

i also submitted my test score to upenn back then aswell but it doesnt show it in checklist cuz i chose test optional

[frigid flare]

uhhhhhhhhh you may want to email about that

it's fine if some of my stuff says received nov 2 right

[noble field]

yeah the weird thing is that i didnt see the test score when i first got my portal

[wind viper]

it just updated for me today

bc i checked the portal yesterday and it wasnt there; now it is

you def should email them

[noble field]

oh did it say today's date for received

[wind viper]

nah it said 11/2/23

which is weird bc i didnt see it in my portal that day so i self-reported my scores

but then they just showed up like rn

[noble field]

Won’t be reviewed 👍

[rugged field]

👍

[frigid flare]

👍

[surreal palm]

if you clicked that you plan on applying for need based aid on the app so you could apply for free

and then you apply for fafsa but dont get any $

do you have to pay for the app later

[random lintel]

i dont think so

[signal pivot]

how is uchicago neuroscience

or pre-med in general

I’m debating whether to ed2 or not

[molten crypt]

hard

but worth

[rugged field]

neurosci is good, pre-med is...

not the best for ur gpa i gotta say

[molten crypt]

yes lots of other schools for premed

as a premed here

i am struggling

[torn path]

what about political science? 😐

[rich sapphire]

very thorough advising/course material & lots of opportunities

[signal pivot]

so many people are saying uchicago premed is not the move

I’ve talked to some premeds there and they said its not bad as long as you can grind

and that a lot of premeds do end up going to med school

but idk…i still deciding to ed2 for neuro premed

[jaunty girder]

some people can receive admit decisions by now as well (sports, lab school, and non-traditional), but that represents the minority of people, just do your thing and write applications and don't stress!

[native nova]

whats lab school

[jaunty girder]

high school(s) associated with UChicago https://www.ucls.uchicago.edu/

I don't know this for a fact, but i believe that with select chicago high schools they have a different application process to uchicago in which they get earlier decisions!

[noble field]

It’s private school

I don’t think residency matters

Damn I didn’t know that

Oh yeah true they also get a fee waiver

[rugged field]

i think it's great if u want research positions

[surreal palm]

the way that decisions come out mid december instead of after jan is so nice

if i dont make it in ill spam apply rd everywhere else

🤡

[torn path]

the dean of admissions change no?

[rugged field]

who

why

[torn path]

oh wait i just got confused because it wasnt james nondorf who sent the recent email

[rugged field]

nondorf is an interesting guy

tbh i'd prefer uchicago to like stop doing some yield rate manipulation

yeah but they've done it enough

it's helped the school and all but now i think it's time they stop

i mean to some extent hell is a good thing

'where fun goes to die' makes us more famous

well not famous just

memorable

yeah thats fine

if this uni doesnt stop to unreasonably game these numbers then we're gonna be grouped alongside northeastern and tulane (if not already)

like why even 88% yield rate bruh

80% is more than enough

when nondorf stops

like fucking tone it down sir

wdym ed rate?

like AR for ED?

ermmm

dunno tbh 10% maybe

actually

we gotta check other unis

i think jhu is the best basis for this

JHU is also hard to get in RD

and has a 20% ED acceptance rate

but maybe chicago is less tbh

cuz jhu is 6.5% AR while uchicago is 4.8% i think

yeah maybe similar to penn?

anywhere in between 10-20%

idt they should even hide this tbh

yeah that and also like legit so many unis dont even need to hide that they have a >15% AR for ED

nondorf has done his part, it was smart at the start of all of these, but i think its getting old

like idt the 3.2% acceptance rate for northeastern helped at all

[rich sapphire]

you’re secretly a northwestern student trashtalking uchi!

[rugged field]

uhhuh totally

im an impostor in our lab

[crystal bobcat]

tf is

ITS form??

not IRS?

is this a new form or something? or did they make a typo 😭

[noble field]

yeah its irs

[crystal bobcat]

Alr thanjs

Uchicago is trolling

[stoic panther]

Northwestern >

[regal ingot]

the ITS 🔥 (internal testosterone service)

[frigid flare]

i believe those are called the testes

[rugged field]

no one cares

[frigid flare]

your name should be uchikego

epic

[rugged field]

thx

[frigid flare]

bruh do we have to send the entire tax return

my parent tax return is massive

[jaunty girder]

just copy and paste it into the portal if it's requesting it

[frigid flare]

we have a physical copy though so we have to scan it

[jaunty girder]

you can get an online copy! (and it's useful, soon to be required, for financial aid

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript

[frigid flare]

oooooooooooooohhh thank you

[toxic saddle]

is it true that uchicago RD has ~1% acceptance rate

[rugged field]

probably not

[sinful lotus]

an admissions officer told me the ed/rd split is around 50-50

in terms of people accepted

[sinful lotus]

what do you mean

the number im saying is

how many people are at the school that applied ED

vs RD

i don't understand how this is not possible

[random lintel]

What abt ea?

[molten adder]

they said they take in ~25% of their students from each of the 4 rounds

[frigid flare]

i've heard they take a huge majority from ed to keep yield rate high

i feel like it's unlikely that there's absolutely no ed boost

oh wait but math

less ed applicants means higher ed acceptance rate

man that's confusing

[molten adder]

yeah exactly

[restive snow]

i think uchicago basically only accepts ed and ed2 students

[rugged field]

hmmm

idrk

i can say though, many ppl ik here r ED/ED2

including myself

[molten adder]

half the kids who got accepted from my school were RD

i think theres only one other kid EDing from my class

and his GPA is a lot better than mine 🥲

[restive snow]

oh damnnn

interesting

[regal ingot]

one by one i've seen them fall

[undone plover]

Ex-ao told me they take like 90% of kids Ed/ed2 💀

Idk where you’d get 50/50 from

[gloomy ferry]

i EA'd but now im losing hope :(

[gloomy ferry]

anyone know when decisions come out?

@rugged field when did it come out last year?

[random lintel]

same lmao

[gloomy ferry]

bro i tried to scroll up in last year's thread to find when decisions released

and my GOD THEY TALKED SO MUCH

[frigid flare]

was december 17 last year

[gloomy ferry]

yeah i scrolled till dec 14 then gave up

[random lintel]

omg thats in a month

[rugged field]

like dec 20

[noble field]

That’s for Ed right

What about ea

[gloomy ferry]

arent they the same?

[noble field]

Fr? I thought that ea decisions get released after Ed

[gloomy ferry]

i hate colleges that don't give a definite date like ugh

bro if i get deferred ea can i switch to ed2?

[rugged field]

yes u can

[gloomy ferry]

but i can't if i get rejected right?

[rugged field]

yeah

[gloomy ferry]

did you ed?

[rugged field]

no

i went ed2

[gloomy ferry]

ah

[tacit scarab]

https://applyingto.college/decision-calendar/class-of-2027-decision-calendar

December 21 last year

[tacit scarab]

Yes they’re the same

Well for UChicago

Other schools can vary

[tacit scarab]

I have class of 2026/2025 and some of 2024 stored elsewhere if anyone needs them

Just was too lazy to transfer them over

[molten adder]

ex-ao...

and current ao

[regal ingot]

but if theres no one beside you

[gloomy ferry]

i already sent my css profile and uploaded stuff in idoc, how else do i need to send the federal tax return and w2 forms?

[noble field]

Wait what I didn’t know that existed

I only did the financial aid worksheet

[gloomy ferry]

yeah at first it didnt show in my portal but it shows up now

[frigid flare]

it shows up after doing the worksheet

[frigid flare]

i thought uchicago doesn't do idoc

you upload them in the documents section

[frigid flare]

you can use this for online copy

[proper fulcrum]

u upload those

u select the type of document in the upload materials section

try to do those quick, the priority for fin aid was 11/15

[random lintel]

wait how bc the fafsa isnt even out yet

[noble field]

thats for css profile

financial aid worksheet was also due the 15th i think

but i swear i did not see the w2 and tax return

[frigid flare]

everything except fafsa has a priority deadline of 11/15 but everything will still be considered if submitted after the date

[proper fulcrum]

^^^ @random lintel

[frigid flare]

it'll just take a little longer to get aid package

[noble field]

well fuck

css submitted the first week of october but this stupid fin aid checklist never notified me to upload w2 and tax return

[random lintel]

ohhhh good thanks

[regal ingot]

yea

oh well

!

[jaunty girder]

financial aid has no impact on your uchicago admissions and you can submit it essentially whenever, don't worry

[gloomy ferry]

SAME

i submitted it tho, thanks guys!

[noble field]

Same

[rugged field]

ye

unless ur intl

but theyre not intl so ye

[torn path]

i thought therewas no deadline??

[torn path]

im so confused

oh my god, what if i applied for early decision and i missed the nov 15 deadline? would it be ideal to change my application for early decision ii?

help pls 🥲

are you sure? ohhhhhhh

really? i was panicking already huhuhhu

[lost swallow]

https://tenor.com/view/lebron-gif-20226719

hello uchicago thread

[jaunty girder]

i applied and got finaid after being admitted, it's not a big deal if your finaid is late

[torn path]

okay thank youu!

[frigid flare]

see above

[lost swallow]

based on your experience and what you’ve seen (you don’t need to go in depth if you aren’t comfortable) would you say uchi gives good aid or no

[jaunty girder]

yes, incredibly good aid, of every school I applied to, uchicago gave the best aid and many friends of mine got very good aid

[haughty vapor]

The essays for this school are wild, idk if I’m gonna apply but

Still, the essays are kinda funny actually

[gloomy ferry]

i applied only for the essays but now its my #1

[haughty vapor]

Unlike anything I’ve seen so far, I was gonna apply northwestern but I’m kinda rethinking now

[gloomy ferry]

apply both?

[haughty vapor]

Maybe

It’s a little expensive

Just trying to find the pros and cons for both

It’s not an easy thing to do lol

Might just be overthinking this though, both are very hard to get in

[gloomy ferry]

yeah but i've heard uchicago gives excellent fin aid

[frigid flare]

that's crazy i've heard that too i wonder where we heard that from
scrolls up

[haughty vapor]

Idk if I wanna just add another school that’s gonna reject me yk

Is my time better spent applying to a target school

[gloomy ferry]

tbh if you can write well I'd shoot your shot

Because from what I've seen uchicago is one of those schools where you could have mid stats and ecs but great essays and get in

[haughty vapor]

Do they admit by major? Like one major is harder to get in than another?

Bc I’m pre-med, idk if that has an effect

[molten adder]

no

its all one college

you can major in anything you want

but still gotta list interests

[haughty vapor]

Gotcha

UChicago seems rlly nice

But so does northwestern

So maybe it is worth applying to both

Idk

[tender wigeon]

Hi

[stoic panther]

I said it once and I’ll say it again… Northwestern > UC Hicago

[tender wigeon]

Any school named after a direction is fake. You already lost from the beginning

[lost swallow]

northwestern isn’t even in chicago buddy

[random lintel]

Northwestern isn’t even in the northwest

So cringe

[toxic saddle]

Eastwestern better than both

dont even get me started on northsouthern

[stoic panther]

Take that back nowwww🤬🤬

I know y’all are gonna be switching up that not t10 school when you get deferred🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

[tender wigeon]

Wdym

[molten adder]

academically uchicago is more accomplished and prestigious

fuck the rankings

[gloomy ferry]

uchicago was #6 last year right?

[lost swallow]

northwestern is not top 10 buddy

[gloomy ferry]

nw is #9 i think

[gloomy ferry]

ugh does someone have any info on uchicago decision date the wait is killing me

[frigid flare]

around 20 december probably

[sour lotus]

Hey guys

On the application portal it says

"Thank you for applying to the University of Chicago! If you are missing documents in your checklist, don’t panic! You still have time to submit (or resubmit) the missing items without penalty! ...

We would still like to consider your application, so please ensure the missing materials are shared with us by Tuesday, November 21."

Does this include the international financial aid worksheet? (only thing missing) Because I cant fill that out without my dads help and hes being a mega poopy right now and literally won't help me with anything

[frigid flare]

for international it might since they're need-aware for international applicants

so they might need it to read your application

[sour lotus]

💀fml

I live in the states tho 😭

Silly little passport 🫠

[jaunty girder]

if you did high school in the states you apply domestically

[sour lotus]

Ohh

Screw this college stuff I’ll just become a park ranger smh

[restive hemlock]

does anyone know ea acceptance rate?

[sour lotus]

https://www.reddit.com/r/ApplyingToCollege/comments/ct6c37/uchicago_early_decision_acceptance_rates/

[restive hemlock]

so about the same as rd?

[sour lotus]

yea

but the ed rate is 🫠

[torn path]

hii im just getting paranoid but can somebody please tell me that by financial aid worksheet got through right?

[noble field]

yeah u good

[alpine fable]

Is ED2 worse than EA in terms of getting accepted

[frigid flare]

nah i'm like 90% sure it's way better

[sour lotus]

Is that due today 💀

[torn path]

im not sure im international so i just submitted it like what they said

[rugged field]

probably not

im ED2

tbh i think EA has a lower acceptance rate but ED2 pool is more competitive

[rugged field]

this northwestern shit is j desperate

the fact that no one needs to say uchicago > northwestern clearly shows that we're better

just stop feeding into ur inferiority complex as a northwestern fan

[rich sapphire]

so true

are you on campus

[rugged field]

honestly j forget uchicago exists, like legit we dont care abt northwestern so ur basically talking to urself

[rugged field]

nah

im in cali lmao

[rich sapphire]

o nice

[rugged field]

hbu

[rich sapphire]

home state

u r def not from cali

[rugged field]

yea

im visiting my sister

[rich sapphire]

ohh fun

[rugged field]

ok no cap

bay area food is so much better

more expensive tho

[rich sapphire]

why cant u eat the dining hall food there or smth

or cook

[rugged field]

i do cook yeah

dining hall food is unhealthy

[surreal palm]

do I need to submit the financial aid checklist things for my app to be considered?

not the worksheet

but fafsa, fed tax treturn and w-2 forms

[frigid flare]

nah you're fine without them

if you're international you might need them though

[tender wigeon]

Is it worth it to apply to Chicago EA

[frigid flare]

if you think you can write a good quirky essay and your stats are decent i'd say so

[haughty vapor]

Quirky 🥴

[tender wigeon]

But like doesn’t UChicago always defer their EA applicants

[tender wigeon]

What is your definition of quirky

[rugged field]

special

[tender wigeon]

As in autism?

[rugged field]

Lol

damn.

[tender wigeon]

Where do I find UChicago prompts

[tender wigeon]

I say this as a homeschooler I have right by association

[rugged field]

search uchi prompts on google and click the website from uchicago

[tender wigeon]

So yeah that’s what the prompts are

I could do that

All of the prompts I saw are about English language??

And by that I mean 2

[tender wigeon]

Will UChicago reject you if you don’t use one of their quirky prompts

[frigid flare]

you can choose to do your own prompt but if it's not quirky at all that might be an issue

they want to see your personality and thought process and writing ability

[random lintel]

If you don’t like the quirky prompts just don’t apply to uchicago bc like that’s their whole thing

[frigid flare]

yeah the quirky is very indicative of the culture

[proper fulcrum]

i watched a vid on youtube from a uchicago AO,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjCGPLwtEus
45:57

"there used to be this understanding of chicago as a really quirky place that is has not been true for a while now um that has been pr and public relations out of the any kind of messaging from the school and i don't think it really matches the student body anymore either so i think that's that's one thing that that used to be a piece of it"

take that with a grain of salt though ig

[wind viper]

the culture is more akin to suicidal and depressed

[proper fulcrum]

i dont think u have to be "quirky"

just show u are human 💀

[wind viper]

it's more of a branding strategy these days

[proper fulcrum]

yep, just as the vid said

[random lintel]

i would fit in so well

[proper fulcrum]

where fun goes to die fr

[frigid flare]

i would like source

[frigid flare]

ah interesting i've also heard that some students tend to have a weird complex where they try their best to prove they're not quirky uchicago nerds to the point where they're very clearly insecure

i have also heard many times over that it's really not that bad, just fairly rigorous

if it sucked that bad people would probably be transferring out like crazy

if you're wondering how it is you can ask the uchicago students in this thread

[wind viper]

https://chicagomaroon.com/28608/viewpoints/column/better-worse-uchicago/

[proper fulcrum]

agreed

i think uchicago just has the best prompts to show that ur human, but u dont have to go out of your way to make urself overly "quirky"

[frigid flare]

yeah i just called them "quirky essays" cause that's a popular nickname for them cause they are pretty quirky

[frigid flare]

yeah this is probably a good way to characterize uchicago students

but i have no shame or sense of cringe so i think i'll be able to get through it

[haughty vapor]

Can we please stop saying quirky

😭😭😭

[frigid flare]

why does everyone only just now hate the word quirky, i swear people have been calling the essays that for years

[haughty vapor]

Idk if it’s everyone, but definitely me. It’s just like the only word that’s been said in this chat for the entirety of today 😂

I own up to my hatred of the overuse of the word quirky

[tender wigeon]

Is Uchi actually where fun goes to die are you all depressed

[frigid flare]

you can ask the uchi students in the thread (uchikego, lucy, tlothomas, and sillychicago, among others probably)

[rich sapphire]

no it’s fun

[tender wigeon]

Are you a Uchi student???

Since when

[frigid flare]

oh yeah also c

[rich sapphire]

yeah lol

since like this entire yr

[tender wigeon]

That’s so cool

@rich sapphire how do I become a Uchi student

[sour lotus]

Ask nicely

Or so I’ve been told

[frigid flare]

so i finally got around to this, but this is the tax return transcript, not the return itself; does it still work?

[noble field]

no

the 1040 tax form

[frigid flare]

rats

so we can't get that online

[frigid flare]

ok i finally did the thing

[frigid flare]

https://tenor.com/view/dad-coraline-work-gif-18503813

me logging onto my portal everyday knowing damn well absolutely nothing has changed

wait a minute since when was this here

https://tenor.com/view/bellebows-tiktok-dog-funny-silly-gif-26293491

[wind viper]

f- f- finalizing?

Holy shit guys my checklist disappeared

[frigid flare]

mine too

i think that means they've reviewed

i'm so nervy

[wind viper]

hopefully this means an earlier decision

[frigid flare]

nope

same as everyone else

they still probably gotta give more reads though

oh true

that would be epic

i think uchicago gives three reads

i thought this was just gonna be a routine portal check with nothing changing

chat we are in the endgame

[regal ingot]

The end is near. I salute you all 🫡

[delicate crow]

i hope it comes out earlier i cant take another month of waiting

also has anyone tried the milkshakes are they any good

[rugged field]

sweet af

my friends like it but aint no way im getting diabetes

(lowkey applies to like any milkshake in america)

[delicate crow]

sounds right up my alley lol

[rich sapphire]

they’re horribly sweet & melted

not worth

[gloomy ferry]

me fr

[gloomy ferry]

RAHHHWJKXKSKZJJWJXJSJDJJXJAJS UCHICAGO UCHICAGO UCHICAGO

[gloomy ferry]

REAL plus this is like my #1 so😭

[surreal palm]

same

[gloomy ferry]

SAME

[noble field]

What milkshake

[lost swallow]

uchi has a thing where i think every wednesday (could be another day) they give out milkshakes for free